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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. spell — a short time
  3. snap — to click
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. wound — an injury
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — not warm
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. bark — to shout
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mine — for digging
  18. spell — letters
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spell — magic
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. tear — to rip
  24. mine — an explosive

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com